Brokeback Mountain: Our Community's Common Bond > Brokeback Mountain Open Forum
P.O. Boxes, Mailboxes and the No. 17
Jeff Wrangler:
--- Quote from: latjoreme on March 01, 2007, 04:10:13 pm ---To me, reading it as a subtle message about his father's concern would violate Occam's Razor.
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It would that! ;D
But whatever the reason for the behavior, surely not sharing his secrets and never showing up to watch Jack compete amounts to not encouraging Jack in the endeavor.
And I wish I could understand why I'm suddenly so fascinated wondering why the old man didn't support Jack in his rodeo aspirations. ;D
Was he already so convinced in his own mind that his son was such a fuck-up that he didn't even try to support Jack in his rodeo aspirations? It would have made for a different story, I know, but perhaps if he had shared his secrets with Jack, and shown Jack some encouragment, maybe Jack would have had a more successful rodeo career. Was the old man, consciously or not, setting Jack up to fail by his own lack of support for his son? ??? :-\
serious crayons:
--- Quote from: Jeff Wrangler on March 01, 2007, 05:33:52 pm ---And I wish I could understand why I'm suddenly so fascinated wondering why the old man didn't support Jack in his rodeo aspirations. ;D
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Maybe you've got rodeo aspirations of your own! ;D
Jeff Wrangler:
--- Quote from: latjoreme on March 01, 2007, 05:48:32 pm ---Maybe you've got rodeo aspirations of your own! ;D
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Not bloody likely. ... ;D
--- Quote from: latjoreme on March 01, 2007, 04:10:13 pm ---BUT I do think the old man is more caring than people tend to give him credit for. In the Twist ranch scene, I think OMT is genuinely grieving, not just bitterly trying to cause more trouble.
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It fascinates me that you see him--and that scene--this way. While I don't think his "troublemaking" is just gratuitous, in that scene with Ennis I've never been able to see anything in John Twist's demeanor except bitterness and deep contempt--contempt for his own son, emphasized by that business of spitting into his cup. :-\
Brown Eyes:
--- Quote from: Jeff Wrangler on March 01, 2007, 05:33:52 pm ---And I wish I could understand why I'm suddenly so fascinated wondering why the old man didn't support Jack in his rodeo aspirations. ;D
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Well, it's a good topic Jeff! And one that probably hasn't been tackled as much as some others. It is interesting to ponder why John, Sr. doesn't want his son following in his footsteps (in this one aspect).
Yeah, it could be that he wanted to protect Jack from the dangers of the sport. Or, it could be one more manifestation of what the audience is encouraged to think is abuse or neglect on the part of John, Sr. Since we don't get the full story about the extent of the father's abuse in the movie like we do in the story, the clues about the relative awfulness of John, Sr. are more subtle. Maybe the father's decision not to train Jack in bull riding and his further decision not to see Jack ride is meant to show the type of disdain that neglectful/ abusive parents show their kids for totally inexplicable reasons. My interpretation of how Jack perceives his father's actions is that Jack does take this as a form of neglect or rejection (I base this mostly on the way Jack tells the story and the face he makes... so this is super subjective).
What ever happened to that old thread about putting kids on the "woolies" that showed pictures of fathers putting tiny kids on sheep for rodeo training? I remember those pictures were really effective in showing how scary that could be to a little kid.
Jeff Wrangler:
--- Quote from: atz75 on March 01, 2007, 08:34:28 pm --- My interpretation of how Jack perceives his father's actions is that Jack does take this as a form of neglect or rejection (I base this mostly on the way Jack tells the story and the face he makes... so this is super subjective).
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I would agree with that, Amanda. Goes hand-in-hand with "Can't please my old man no-how," even when he tries to follow in his old man's footsteps. :-\
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